Showing posts with label Networking. Show all posts
It’s been quite a while that Windows 10 has launched and still people are reluctant whether they should upgrade to it or not. There’s no straight cut answer to this, but we always try our best to help you through the decision.
Wi-Fi Sense is secure. Let me show you how | Shutterstock
From what I feel, Wi-Fi Sense, a new feature included in Windows 10, has managed to freak out a lot of people when it comes to security and privacy. But it’s not what you think it is. So in today’s post, I will explain what the feature is all about and how it’s completely under your control.
What exactly is Wi-Fi Sense
First of all, the Wi-Fi Sense is nothing new and exclusive to Windows 10. The feature was first launched on Windows 8.1 Mobile platform which later made its way to the desktop version of Windows 10. So to explain things in the simplest way, you can think of Wi-Fi Sense as a feature that shares your Wi-Fi password to your contacts so that they can connect automatically once they are near your Wi-Fi network.
But there’s nothing to freak out here. It’s not the Skynet or the Genisys that you should be worried about. It’s totally under your control. Let’s see how.
How is Wi-Fi Sense Sharing your Wireless Network
When you install Windows 10, Wi-Fi sense is enabled by default. So every time you connect to a wireless network, you will get an option Share network with my contacts. If you check this, the wireless password will be shared to your contacts from Outlook Skype and Facebook (if connected) and they would be able to auto connect to the wireless network, next time they are around.
If you are using a Microsoft account on Windows 10, the Wi-Fi info is automatically shared with contacts from Skype and Outlook if they are on Windows 10. You can also connect your Facebook account and give Wi-Fi sense access to your contacts over there. The only thing that’s out of line is that the wireless info can either be shared with all the contacts, or none. There’s no provision to select specific contacts to share the wireless password.
How to Control Wi-Fi Sense Settings
The Wi-Fi sense settings can be controlled through the Modern Network and Internet settings. Here, under the Wi-Fi option, click on Advanced options. The page will list all the Wi-Fi network you have connected to and which of them has been shared to your contacts by Wi-Fi sense.
It’s here that you can select the contacts which whom the wireless passwords can be shared. If you need to forget any wireless network, it can also be done from here.
If you connect a guest to your wireless network using the WPS button, or you are manually typing the password of your Wi-Fi, the guest cannot share it using Wi-Fi sense if not already shared. Windows 10 would need you to type the Wi-Fi passphrase again when you are planning to share it. But you can’t always hide the password from your friends. In such scenarios, there’s a better way to disable Wi-Fi Sense.
Opting Out from Wi-Fi Sense Completely
Let’s say you own a Bistro or a cafe or you are a home user who don’t want anyone who connects to your network to share the Wi-Fi password. There’s a way you can opt out from the feature completely, but the settings needs to be done from your router. Windows 10 will not activate Wi-Fi Sense on any wireless SSID which has the phrase _optout in it.
So let’s say your wireless name is GuidingTech and you want to exclude it from Wi-Fi sense on any Windows 10 computer, just rename the wireless name to GuidingTech_optout or Guiding_optout_Tech. That’s all, next time when you connect to the said network, it will not ask you to share the wireless information.
Conclusion
So that was all there is to know about Wi-Fi Sense in Windows 10. Enterprise networks are never included because of LEAP configuration which requires additional credentials.
Do you ever attempt to join a Wi-Fi network on your iPhone or iPad and either get an error message stating that the device is unable to join? Perhaps, and arguably even more frustrating, is when you’re left hanging with no sign of an Internet connection as the progress indicator spins or falsely displays a successful connection. This can happen regardless of whether your signal is strong or weak.
Get past troubles with connecting your iPhone to a Wi-Fi network | Shutterstock
There are a few steps you can take to fix these issues and join the Wi-Fi network of your choice. However, keep in mind that these aren’t guaranteed fixes for every situation as sometimes the issue could be related to the network itself and therefore out of your control.
Renew the Lease
The first and likely the most easy step you can take toward resolving Wi-Fi connection woes is to just renew the lease on the Wi-Fi. This basically sends a request to start the connection again with the IP address that you lease on the network. This won’t work all of the time to fix issues, but it may work depending on your situation’s circumstances. It’s a harmless shot to take.
Just go to Settings and then Wi-Fi on your iPhone. Locate the Wi-Fi network your iPhone indicates that you’re technically connected to and press the blue Info icon on the right. All the way at the bottom, tap Renew Lease and tap it once more when prompted.
Nothing will happen, but try opening Safari to see if you can open a web page now. Hopefully this successfully fixed your problem, but if not, keep reading.
‘Forget’ the Network
Sometimes it’s helpful to just refresh your iPhone’s connection with the Wi-Fi network. This can be done in Settings. Then choose the Wi-Fi category and tap the blue Info button next to the connected network. At the very top, tap Forget This Network.
Note: When you “forget” a locked network, your iPhone will get rid of the stored password, so be sure you know it if you want to connect again in the future.
This step is optional but recommended as it could increase your chance of success. After you “forget” the network, return to the Wi-Fi panel and turn off Wi-Fi entirely for about 10 seconds. Then turn it back on. This is one extra step you can take to ensure you’re starting on a clean slate.
Lastly, find the same Wi-Fi network and select it to try connecting again. Enter the password if prompted.
Reset Your Settings
If both of the above fail you, you can always try resetting your iPhone’s network settings. This restores the network settings to the device’s factory defaults. All saved Wi-Fi passwords will be lost, so beware.
To reset network settings, go to the Settings app and tap General. Scroll all the way down to tap Reset. Finally, tap Reset Network Settings. After being prompted, verify that this is indeed what you wish to do.
Give your iPhone a few seconds, then navigate back to the Wi-Fi connection panel in Settingsand try connecting to your Wi-Fi network.
Important: Keep in mind that if the three above solutions didn’t fix your Wi-Fi issues, it might be out of control. If you notice that you can’t connect to a Wi-Fi network on various devices, it’s probably an issue with the network and/or router. On the flip side, if you notice your iPhone is having trouble connecting to multiple networks, you could have a deeper software or even hardware issue in need of repair.
There may be many reasons you Mac has trouble connecting to a wireless network. To help in these situations, Apple includes some basic wireless troubleshooting tools in the Airport menu. The magic is in the option key.
No need to go to extreme measure. Use what Apple gives you for free | Photo by OndraSoukup
Detailed Connection Information With the Option Key
To find out all the details about your current wireless connection, hold down the option key and select the Airport icon from your menu bar. From the start, Apple tells you all the details about the network and how you are connected to the Internet. Some of the key information includes:
- IP Address: Do you have one or is it a self-assigned IP address?
- Router Address: Once you have that address, you can test your connection to the router?
- Internet: Can you get to the Internet from here, or is the problem at the router?
Want to disconnect from that network: No need to turn off Wi-Fi, just pick Disconnect from that same menu.
Apple’s Wireless Diagnostics Application is Hidden
Apple includes a bunch of utilities in the Mac OS and usually puts them in the Utilities folder in Applications. A few though are hidden in the /System/CoreServices/Applications folder. Fortunately though, the Wireless Diagnostics app is also available from the Airport wireless menu when you hold down the option key.
Save a step: If you use this application often, drag an alias of it to the desktop.
A Checkup Before it Starts
When you first open the application, it wants to test your network connection. You’ll lose your connection for a minute, so close out anything you’re working on. The test is optional, but don’t close the window. When you close the introduction window, the application closes.
Looking for this option in Windows? It’s in there so check out our guide on how to use it.
After it runs a test, it will either report a problem and suggest a fix or say everything is working as expected.
To see the details of your connection, select Continue to summary. A nice feature Apple added to this application is a logging mechanism. That’s handy if you are tracking different settings in your router or different locations in your home or office.
The application gathers all this information into a diagnostic report it puts on the desktop along with any suggestions that would improve your connection. The compressed diagnostic report contains technical information an experienced network engineer can use. For the rest of us, Apple’s suggestions based on the diagnostics are the most helpful.
Forget your wireless password? Sadly this utility won’t help, but this guide will.
Detailed Tools From the Window Menu
Apple hides some of the best features even deeper in this application. Remember not to close the Assistant window (the first option) or else the application closes.
Not enough info information here? Check out some apps for the Mac and iOS for advanced troubleshooting.
Info
These are some of the details listed when you hold down the option key, but you have a few more pieces of information here. The Info lists the DNS you are connected to and the wireless connection type, such as 802.11n.
Logs
These are the same type of logs the Wireless Diagnostics creates. Not much use to the average Mac user. These are the logs you’d send to a support person when you have a problem.
Scan
This feature looks at all the wireless networks it sees and looks at how you can connect to them. In crowded areas, these details help you find the best router to connect to. If you’re setting up a router yourself, this function lets you find the least crowded channel.
Problems connecting your iPhone to Wi-Fi? We have a few tips covered just for those who do.
Performance
Here is where we get to the good stuff. If you aren’t sure what’s wrong with your connection, this is where you’ll find the details you need to fix your problem. Keep this function open as you move to different areas. You’re looking for the best signal under quality with the least amount of noise under signal. This area is also the part of Wireless Diagnostics you use to find the ideal spot for your router. Change a router setting or location and see how it changed the performance.
Scanning Complete
These features won’t fix your wireless problems, but will give you some information to solve it yourself. If that doesn’t work, it lets you work with a support technician to figure out what’s wrong.
There can be a lot of reasons as to why you might want to know the Wi-Fi password for anetwork you are currently connected to or you have connected in the past. Either your friend wants to know the password for the café you regularly visit, or you just want to know the password of the Wi-Fi at your friend’s place who won’t tell you and prefer typing it.
We have already seen how to uncover the secret on Android and iOS and today we would see how to get that done on a Windows computer. Just make sure you have the admin access to the computer.
View Password of Network You are Connected to
The trick I am going to show you right now has been documented on Windows 10. But it also works on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. When you are connected to the network, right click on the Wi-Fi icon on the Windows System Tray and click on Open the network and Sharing.
Once the Network and Sharing Center opens up, it will list all the networks your computer is currently connected to under the Active Network section. Click on the Connections: your computer is connected to and it will open the Wi-Fi Status Window.
Click on Wireless Properties in the Wi-Fi Status window and Wireless Network Property of the connected network. The page will show you the connection name and type and will have a Security tab you can click on.
The Network Security Key option will have the Wi-Fi password and you can check the optionShow characters to make the password visible. Do not change any properties in here or it might mess up the connection and you can have trouble while connecting next time.
That was an easy solution to find the password to the network you are currently connected to. What if I share a secret using which you can get Wi-Fi password of networks you are not connected to anymore?
While we’re on networking: Why don’t you check out how you should pick out a Wi-Fi routerthat is right for you.
View Passwords of Networks You Were Previously Connected to
Open the command prompt, with admin access of course, and type in the command netsh wlan show profiles. It will list all the Wi-Fi networks you have connected to. Each of these mentioned profiles will be displayed using the SSID Name.
The next command you should type is netsh wlan show profile name=”Profile-Name” key=clear. The profile name should be the name of the Wi-Fi network you wish to know the password of and without quotes. The screenshot will clear any doubts you might have.
That’s all, the password for the said network will be displayed under the security tab.
Word of Advice on Windows 10 Wi-Fi Sense
While talking about the Windows 10 W-Fi Sense previously, we mentioned that a user will have to type in the password again to enable Wi-Fi password sharing. But the trick might be a way to break that. So if you really don’t what to share your Wi-Fi, read about the Optout trick.
Conclusion
So that was how you can view saved Wi-Fi password on Windows. Don’t forget to check out how you can view the saved Wi-Fi password on Android and iOS.
Firmware upgrades can provide tons of new features and improvements to a router’s default setup. Whether it be scheduled reboots, MAC filtering, URL blocking, or port forwarding, some routers don’t provide some of these seemingly basic features. Other times, advanced features are only available with a third party firmware upgrade.
We’re going to look at what it takes to upgrade the firmware on a basic router to reveal some really cool and advanced features that were otherwise inaccessible.
Why Upgrade the Firmware?
Firmware upgrades bring with them bug fixes, new features, and/or general improvements to the router functions.
The example we’ll use includes the following features:
- VLAN: A group of physical interfaces on a switch that behave as if they are a separate standalone switch.
- DMZ: Generally one selected device or computer on the network where all incoming traffic without a designated destination defined by PAT or port forwarding, is forwarded to.
- Ad hoc: Allows the router to connect to other wireless devices that are also available for ad hoc connections.
- Afterburner: Also known as SpeedBooster, SuperSpeed, TurboG, 125mbps, HSP125, and G+ is a feature built into some routers that theoretically increase throughput through use of software, or firmware.
- Others, found here
We’ll be using a Linksys WRT150N router for our example.
How To Upgrade the Firmware
Before upgrading anything, we first need to backup the current settings. Do this from theAdministration > Management > Backup and Restore section. Just select Backup Configurations to save the customizations. Now if anything goes wrong, we can just use theRestore Configurations button to bring these settings back to the router.
We’ll be upgrading the firmware to DD-WRT, which is a third party firmware for many 802.11a/b/g/h/n wireless routers. Some of its features are listed above.
Here are the steps.
Step 1: Download the BIN file necessary for the upgrade, located here.
It’s important to have a physical connection to the router so as to not accidentally lose connection during the upgrade. Also, shut down any high-bandwidth connections that are running to further ensure you have constant router access. Any disruption to the upgrade could cause issues in the software.
Step 2: Perform a hard reset to the router. (Ensure you read through the following two paragraph before beginning this step.)
Do this by holding down the tiny reset button located at the back of the unit. Do this for 30 seconds, but at the end of the 30 seconds, don’t let go – keep holding down the button while you unplug the device from the wall. Keep holding down the reset button for an additional 30 seconds. Still holding the button down, plug the device back in and keep pressing it for a final 30 seconds.
In essence, you’ll hold the reset button down for 90 seconds – with the power on, off, and then back on again – in 30 second intervals.
Step 3: Because the router has been reset, the default URL should enable access to the settings. So open http://192.168.1.1 in any browser. Enter no username, but just the passwordadmin to login.
Step 4: Now find Administration > Firmware Upgrade and click Choose File to find the BIN file you’ve downloaded at Step 1.
Then select Start to Upgrade to upgrade the firmware. Wait for the success message before continuing.
You may need to exit the browser window and then open the URL once more to find the new firmware.
Note that the credentials root/admin is the default login combination to access restricted areas like the Security and Administration sections. Immediately change this from the Administration > Management > Router Password section.
Conclusion
A firmware upgrade can give you tons of new features. Just browse around the firmware we’ve shown above and you’ll find a wealth of security/feature improvements from the default Linksys software.
We have quite a good team here in Guiding Tech, with specialists on all major platforms and technologies. But not all of us are great in each kind of tech that we write about, hence the need for a forum, where we can not only help you – our readers – but each other, too.
Router router, which router, do I choose? Shutterstock
Just the other day my colleague Ashish posted a query about buying a router in a specified budget, which I tried to answer in a rather detailed way to help out. Which has lead me to writing out my thoughts for buying a router that could be useful for everyone.
Don’t Let Jargons Confuse You
This is the easiest pitfall that you can fall into. So, let’s understand a few basic concepts. The first being DSL, which stands for Digital Subscriber Line, which is nothing but a fancy way of saying broadband. ADSL is Asymmetric DSL, which means that your upload and download speeds are unequal.
Most of you want a good solid Internet connection to browse the net and watch videos, all the while you are only downloading data from the Internet. The only people who would want the same download and upload speeds are the ones who have their own YouTube channel and want to upload videos as quickly as they can.
The other kind of connection you may have heard of, is ADSL2 or ADSL2+. Again, this is merely a fancy way of saying that it’s a pretty fast broadband connection, or faster than the average of your region/country. You’d do well to ignore the jargon and only concentrate on what is really important.
802.11 is the code given to Wi-Fi by IEEE, which is a body which decides to name stuff (among other cool things). Following this number you’ll find alphabets that are either a, b, g or n – each having their own significance. The first 3 are now older standards and convey a slower speed throughput and range, with ‘n’ signifying that there is hotspot capability on board too.
The newest standard in this list is the ‘ac’ standard, which provides dual-band Wi-Fi coverage for your home as well as faster speeds and better range.
ISPs Do Like to Spoil Our Party
In an ideal world, it’d be pretty easy to buy just about any router that you like based on its performance and use it accordingly. But, we don’t live in that world, do we? So, some ISPs have done their very best to ensure that consumers will only buy Wi-Fi routers that they provide themselves. This is not only against the idea of an open market, but clearly restricts the options for several users.
In any case, it’s a good idea to check with the tech support your ISP if the routers you have shortlisted are compatible with the connection that they provide. If they are clueless themselves then ask which models of routers are compatible and work your way backwards, by researching on those models and finding similar ones that fit your budget and needs.
Newer is Always Better
No, I’m not trying to be cheeky by quoting Barney Stinson, but merely remarking on the fact that newer technology is made only so that it can boast about being better. Otherwise what was the whole point?
In terms of router, or more specifically networking, the newer standard is ‘ac’ – which is a faster standard than the older b/g/n that existed before. You may have noticed these nomenclatures while checking your networking adapters from the Computer Management screen (if you’re a Windows user) but the tl;dr version is that if you can afford it, go for the ‘ac’ standard routers.
Look ma, no wires! Shutterstock
Not only will they let you communicate with better speeds in your own network (say, transferring files from one PC to a laptop, using your router as the central point of connection) but also gives you the option to have a dual-band network. Most wireless devices or devices that use radio signal, do so on the 2.4 GHz band. If your router also operates on the same band, there might be some interference and will affect its performance. The best workaround for this issue is to switch to the newer 5 GHz band, which routers with ac technology provide.
What Matters Most
If you ignore the jargon and rely more on common sense and the knowledge gained via this article, you are already ahead of the curve. So, let’s get right down to picking a router which is good for you.
- Do number of antennas matter? Not really, unless you are thinking of using your router as a decoration piece for your living room.
- Is range dependent on only the router being ‘ac’ or not? No, it also depends on the power the router can draw to amplify the signal. More powerful obviously means more range, but if you have a home with only 2-3 rooms needing Wi-Fi across 800 to 1,200 square feet, then most modern routers will do the job nicely.
- Speeds mentioned on the packaging? What did I say about jargon? Stay away from these, only look at things that really matter to you.
- My last router was good, but range was a serious issue. Okay, for you guys, I’d recommend buying a Wi-Fi range expander or multiplier. These can latch to your existing Wi-Fi and expand them to those areas where the signal is weakest. Where you place these is of paramount importance, so do that wisely.
- Warranty and Reliability? Well, that’s a much deeper game. I’ve relied on trustworthy sources like Linus to figure out which brand is trustworthy and which one is not, so you can also try following the same route. Warranty and related info can always be found on the manufacturers website.
- Which brand is the best? That’s akin to asking which phone brand is the best. You choose the one that checks all the right boxes, there is no best. This ain’t the Oscars.
Router As Repeater: If you have a spare router lying around, then here’s how you can use it as a repeater.
Ultimate TL;DR
Forget jargon. Use your own common sense, don’t be afraid to pay a little extra if you feel that a product has checked all the right boxes of your needs. Those occasions should be pretty rare, though, considering the plethora of choices available in the market. So, pick wisely. As per yourneeds.
Router is one of the devices in your home, which is not given much attention. It is set up once by you or the technician who came to install the internet connection at your place, and then kept in a corner or under the table. While things have changed a little bit now as manufacturers have given some additional features, like cloud sync, downloader, torrent support etc., adding to routers functionality, these are available in the medium to higher range only. The truth is, most of the routers used by people are generally from the lower end of the price bracket. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t do much.
Supercharge your Router! | Shutterstock
DD-WRT is an open source firmware for routers, developed and designed to give many of those 150n devices more software features and stability. In the past, we have already coveredhow to install DDWRT on your router, so that will not be covered again. Instead, we will be talking about many of the advanced features that are offered in DD-WRT, what they are and how to use them.
Cool Tip: Feel your router’s WiFi range is lacking? You can easily extend it by using a cheap or an old router as a repeater.
Prerequisites
Before we begin, please make sure you are covered on the following:
- We will use a lot of network related jargon, so go through our explainers on IP address,DNS etc.
- You have installed and running DD-WRT on your router. If your router doesn’t support DD-WRT or are not willing to go through all that hassle, depending on your router’s make and model, many of these may be offered by your manufacturer’s stock firmware.
- You have access to the internet through some other channel, for a quick look up in case something goes wrong.
- Back up your current routers settings. Almost all routers have the feature of downloading a backup file which you can you use to restore settings. This is usually located under Administration/Management settings menu.
MAC Filtering
Wireless > MAC filter
Every network-related device has a unique address for it identification, known as MAC address. Laptops, mobiles, desktop PCs, routers etc. all have a unique MAC address assigned to them. MAC filtering, as you might have guessed, filters devices based on their MAC addresses. Here MAC filtering is for the wireless network. It allows/denies the connection to devices, whose MAC address is entered in the filtering list.
The settings shown in the above image are self-explanatory. To modify the MAC addresses click the Edit MAC Filter List, which will open a new window, where you have to enter MAC addresses in the table. There is provision to add up to 256 addresses which should more than enough for even power users.
Every network-related device has a unique address for it identification, known as MAC address. Laptops, mobiles, desktop PCs, routers etc. all have a unique MAC address assigned to them. MAC filtering, as you might have guessed, filters devices based on their MAC addresses. Here MAC filtering is for the wireless network. It allows/denies the connection to devices, whose MAC address is entered in the filtering list.
The settings shown in the above image are self-explanatory. To modify the MAC addresses click the Edit MAC Filter List, which will open a new window, where you have to enter MAC addresses in the table. There is provision to add up to 256 addresses which should more than enough for even power users.
DHCP Address Reservation
Services > DHCP Server
As every device on a network has a unique identity in the form of MAC address, it also assigned IP address, which is its address on the network. DHCP is a service which assigns IP addresses to devices attached to the network and makes sure that no two devices get same address, avoiding conflict. But these addresses are temporary, meaning they are assigned to the device for a set period of time, known as a lease.
DHCP Address reservation is used to assign permanent IP addresses to devices which connect often to the network such as your smartphone, tablet, laptop etc. This is useful when you are using Remote Desktop, FTP and other services which require IP Addresses to be known. To assign a permanent address to a device, go to Services > DHCP Server, under static leases enter the MAC address of the device for which you want to reserve an address, enter a hostname of your choice so you can remember which device is which and finally the IP address you want to assign it.
As every device on a network has a unique identity in the form of MAC address, it also assigned IP address, which is its address on the network. DHCP is a service which assigns IP addresses to devices attached to the network and makes sure that no two devices get same address, avoiding conflict. But these addresses are temporary, meaning they are assigned to the device for a set period of time, known as a lease.
DHCP Address reservation is used to assign permanent IP addresses to devices which connect often to the network such as your smartphone, tablet, laptop etc. This is useful when you are using Remote Desktop, FTP and other services which require IP Addresses to be known. To assign a permanent address to a device, go to Services > DHCP Server, under static leases enter the MAC address of the device for which you want to reserve an address, enter a hostname of your choice so you can remember which device is which and finally the IP address you want to assign it.
Website Blocking
Access Restrictions > WAN Access
As the name suggests, this feature is for blocking certain websites from being accessed. Websites can be blocked by entering their addresses (URLs) or for a broader approach, based on certain keywords.
Certain applications can also be blocked by selecting them from the predefined list or adding a custom entry by clicking on Add. Ticking Catch all P2P Protocols will block anything related to torrents on the network.
As the name suggests, this feature is for blocking certain websites from being accessed. Websites can be blocked by entering their addresses (URLs) or for a broader approach, based on certain keywords.
Certain applications can also be blocked by selecting them from the predefined list or adding a custom entry by clicking on Add. Ticking Catch all P2P Protocols will block anything related to torrents on the network.
Wake on LAN
Administration > WOL
This feature is applicable to Desktop PCs only. When you enable wake on LAN, you can start any of the PCs connected to the LAN ports of the router, remotely, by sending a magic packet. You can select from the hosts that are already connected to the router by ticking the check box under Enable WOL column for the Available hosts.
To make a custom entry, fill in the MAC address and Hostname of the PC in the respective fields and click on Add Host. To wake up a particular PC, open the web interface of the router, navigate to the WOL page and hit Wake Up button beside the PC’s name.
This feature is applicable to Desktop PCs only. When you enable wake on LAN, you can start any of the PCs connected to the LAN ports of the router, remotely, by sending a magic packet. You can select from the hosts that are already connected to the router by ticking the check box under Enable WOL column for the Available hosts.
To make a custom entry, fill in the MAC address and Hostname of the PC in the respective fields and click on Add Host. To wake up a particular PC, open the web interface of the router, navigate to the WOL page and hit Wake Up button beside the PC’s name.
Remote Router Access
Administration > Management > Web Access
Most of us know that accessing the router means typing 192.168.1.1 and hitting enter. But this will work only if you are on your home network. For accessing your router from anywhere you need to enable the remote access settings and will need your router’s external IP i.e. the IP address assigned to it by your ISP.
In a simplified world, DDNS will give your router a single address instead of a string of numbers which are hard to remember. To know how to set up DDNS, follow our previous guide. To access your router from outside your network, type the DDNS address or the external IP address followed by the port number in Web GUI Port box.
Most of us know that accessing the router means typing 192.168.1.1 and hitting enter. But this will work only if you are on your home network. For accessing your router from anywhere you need to enable the remote access settings and will need your router’s external IP i.e. the IP address assigned to it by your ISP.
In a simplified world, DDNS will give your router a single address instead of a string of numbers which are hard to remember. To know how to set up DDNS, follow our previous guide. To access your router from outside your network, type the DDNS address or the external IP address followed by the port number in Web GUI Port box.
Quality of Service
NAT/QoS > QoS
Quality of Service is a fancy term for controlling the speed for each device as well the speed of the internet connection. Apart from speed control, prioritization can be set based on packet type, application type and MAC address wise.To change any of the settings under QoS tab, first you will need to enable it by selecting Enable for Start QoS.
It is divided into three major sections, Interface Priority, Services Priority & MAC Priority. We will be using the MAC Priority only as the other too are quite complex to setup. The prioritization is divided into five categories, Maximum, Premium, Express, Standard and Bulk. For example, if your use is mostly HD video streaming on your iPad, you should set the MAC address of your iPad as first priority. Likewise, gamers should set the MAC address of your PC as the first priority.
Apart from priority, download, as well as upload speed also, can be fixed for each MAC address.
Quality of Service is a fancy term for controlling the speed for each device as well the speed of the internet connection. Apart from speed control, prioritization can be set based on packet type, application type and MAC address wise.To change any of the settings under QoS tab, first you will need to enable it by selecting Enable for Start QoS.
It is divided into three major sections, Interface Priority, Services Priority & MAC Priority. We will be using the MAC Priority only as the other too are quite complex to setup. The prioritization is divided into five categories, Maximum, Premium, Express, Standard and Bulk. For example, if your use is mostly HD video streaming on your iPad, you should set the MAC address of your iPad as first priority. Likewise, gamers should set the MAC address of your PC as the first priority.
Apart from priority, download, as well as upload speed also, can be fixed for each MAC address.
Closing Thoughts
These features are just tip of the iceberg, DDWRT has much more and covering all is beyond the scope of this article. Also, we have used a basic 150n router for this article, higher end models have many more features such remote downloader, dual band configuration, MIMO, beam forming etc.
